Older Numerex CMM 1818-10 What's the manual movement mech called?

We're in the midst of a clean & pm on a 89 Numerex/Zeiss CMM. The Z fine movement assy will move the Z post down, but not upwards. We're wondering what this liner movement setup is called? Someone said a 'rolex' mechanism but I could not fine that is the type.

It has 3 roller bearings around a shaft at 120' in a split-block about 1" x 1" We are wondering what it's called and how you adjust it?

TIA
GC.

Threadless leadscrew or ballscrew.
Also called a traction drive and a more common brand type name that is escaping my old and feeble mind.

Up of course needs more force so be sure the shaft is clean and dry as these are designed to slip if you run into something. No lube here.
Sometimes these are split and you can adjust tension that way, others use springs.

Also the reversing or direction lever if there is one may not be turning the bearings far enough and you may be in "neutral".
Before adding tension make sure the shaft and bearings are clean and dry, look at the orient of the bearings in down and up if yours has a speed and or reversing lever.
Most CMMs will not have a reverse arrangement as you just rotate the shaft the opposite direction. Some do have speed or distance per rev control.

These are made to slip under load so be sure the axis is free floating.
This is an air bearing machine isn't it? If so each foot should be free to rotate a bit with no drag.
Bob

TY very much!

Is there an air counterbalance for the Z? If yes, maybe it's not set correctly or not working at all.

Thanks, We're sort of newbs still but figuring it out. Z rides fine on air. Seems to hover well now. We did adjust the Z regulator as it was constantly dropping down 1" a second(ish) when we got it home. We have two precision levels and did a solid level on it.
We (Son and I) are having a heck of a good time and loving the Metrology and CMM space.

... Waiting on the Y scale. Found a solid parts source! Hopefully in our hands by next week sometime Will be interesting to see how they ship these delicate scales?

Just a note to ya'll; So far, We are finding so many good people who are really great people to deal with. Thanks to all who are willing to help here. Much appreciated.

This kid painted his skins..... Whayydya' think about his look? :-)

The 3 wheel clamp to a smooth rod is called a Rohlix.
Made by these guys; Roh'Lix(R) Linear Actuators | Power Transmission Actuators | Zero-Max
What is your Numerex parts source- I have one also!

Metrology parts and Alliance Met in MN.... Been very happy working w/ them.
THANKS for that name! yeah... Not Rolex then. :-0 Roh'lix. got-it.
Hope to be playing soon. reading manuals of late too. kinda buzzing on this whole thing. Great COV-19 project. Needed something fun to learn and do of late.

Scale's should be here early next week.
PC with the Numerex interface card and dongle now repaired w/ new IDE hard drive. Who remembers FDISK, Extended DOS partitions and all that crap!! but we have it all and 3 copies of the original C.
installed a 1.55 floppy emulator.. OMG, so much better!!!! By 'Gotek' same as in the Haas . $20...
The program installed is Uni-Touch Plus 5.1 boots fine.

What I'm not sure of is what software is what.... We have the original numerex 2 disk Uni-touch, the Uni-touch plus 5.1 from 90's(ish)? and then Zeiss Uni-measure 5.5G which say's 94 on the 1.44 floppy and 5.25's
what the better of the latter 2? Any comments welcome. Have the user and training manuals for both.

Have a great weekend all.
GC

I had the local laser guys come in and calibrate my Numerex last year. They told me something unexpected; there is backlash on the optical scale. Being optical, I thought it would be backlash free. On my scales, there are skids that ride on the glass, so a tiny bit of friction. Probably about a micron (my readout is only 2um, so not a big issue).

greif1 said:

...there is backlash on the optical scale. Being optical, I thought it would be backlash free. On my scales, there are skids that ride on the glass, so a tiny bit of friction. Probably about a micron (my readout is only 2um, so not a big issue).

Click to expand...

Always good to learn new things. On a sealed scale with rubber seals it can be worse but you can remove the strips if a clean environment.
Backlash here also may not be drag in the scale, it could be our very good friend Abbe.
So often this is blamed on scale assembly drag or head mount flex.
Even with no skids and no contact at all this backlash error from scale to actual movement remains. Puzzle me that.
Welcome to the world of CMM design, what should work does not do so well at microns.
"I spent $50 large and plus I should be able to trust it to a few tenths".......... ROFLMAO.
I do most certainly know how to come in and do an align and calibrate on your CMM to give you this nice feeling at a tenth.
I also know that it is a lie but please pay the invoice.
People want good news and that this is fixed or okay. So you do what customers want.
The customer will not know a easy check vs a hard one. Do the simple, make a report. Not like it is your shop when doing such as a paying job.

That last sentence came home more that once when doing field calibrations and alignments.
Boss not happy at times that I would try to educate customers. Fixed rate go in get out.

As a aside I have no idea why Roh’Lix could not come to the front of my head.... sucks to get old and now feel like a old fool in a rocking chair on the porch as all you pass me by.
Dinosaur Bob